And Then It Starts Again
by kab16
Summary: collection of 108 word drabbles. chapter 8: " Remnants of a fire. A blackened soul. He wonders if the rain will wash him away." MIB
1. And Then It Starts Again

_**This is my third entry for lost_in_108 ant livejournal. My first I published as a one shot, Sailing Without the Stars to Guide Me, and me second is a 108 word verson of Do It. I decided, since I think I'm going to try doing this every week to put the rest all in one story. Hope you enjoy the 1st one!**_

**_Sarah_**

_Title: And Then It Starts Again  
Rating: pg  
Spoilers/Warnings: season 6  
Characters: Juliet and David  
Summary:Sometimes she wishes she could skip this part.  
__Prompt: skip_

* * *

His fingers move like wings. Swift and delicate against the black and white. Music like sunflowers and lazy mornings in a sea of white sheets. The end feels like tears and he lets the final note echo into nothingness.

_Silence._

He turns, blue eyes full of far away oceans.

"So?"

"It's beautiful."

Sometimes she wishes she could skip this part.

A flash of white. Another time.

She hates it. This is her_ son_.

But she feels the emptiness. Hears words that were never said.

_We can go Dutch._

She wants it. Wants it so much.

His fingers are back at the keys and the whole thing starts again.


	2. Christmas Lights

_Title: When you're still waiting for the snow to fall it doesn't really feel like Christmas at all __Author: kab16 __Spoilers: The Constant __Rating: G __Summary: He told her he'd call in eight years on Christmas Eve. She waits. Title from Christmas Lights by Coldplay_

_prompt 73: light_

* * *

_(Eight years from now. December the 24__th__ 2004. Christmas Eve.)_

She waits.

She hangs a stocking over a burning fire. Hangs up cards. Puts presents under the tree. When she goes to the bathroom, the phone comes with her.

She waits.

She plugs in the lights strung around the tree and watches them burst to life. Soft and warm, the glow almost feels like hope.

She waits.

And it rings. Her hand curls around the phone.

She's shaking. Her whole body is shaking.

_What if it's not him? _

_(I promise.)_

Her eyes are closed. She takes a breath, presses talk and lifts the phone to her ear.

_Hello?_


	3. I'll Just Let You Fall

_Title: Lend me your heart, I'll just let you fall_  
_Author: kab16_  
_Summary: She used to break toys, now she breaks hearts. Title from Awake My Soul by Mumford and Sons_  
_Characters: Ji Yeon, Aaron_  
_Rating: pg __prompt 74: rewind_

* * *

She throws rocks into water and breaks things because she can. She takes her mother's old belongings ( _useless now_) and smashes them against the walls. She breaks what she can find in Kate's house too. She used to break toys until Aaron began to cry. Now she breaks hearts.

"I don't know my father either," he says.

"Not the same." He practically has two moms. She doesn't' have anyone.

"You have me."

"And when did I say I wanted you?"

If she could rewind time she'd find them and tell them that she never loved them either.

Because she feels strongest with lies like water between her lips.


	4. No Such Thing As Freedom

_Title: No Such Thing As Freedom At the Bottom of the Sea_  
_Author: kab16_  
_Spoilers: season 3, episode 1 of season 4_  
_Characters: Hurley, Charlie_  
_Rating: PG_  
_Summary: He was supposed to be free._

_prompt: sink_

* * *

He cannonballs.

Floats down. _Freedom._Like maybe he could just swim off the island right then and there.

The canoe cuts through the water like a knife to the throat.

He's trudges through the sand, the grain sticking to his wet feet. His eyes sting. Water clings to his shirt, making it heavy.

"Where's Charlie?"

They're all yelling, talking over each other.

"Desmond."

Completely ignoring the lacking presence.

"Where's Charlie!"

He knows from the look in his eyes. Before then, really.

He feels like he's back in the water, sinking down, down to the bottom; imagines finding Charlie's body in the blackness there.

_Dead._

He doesn't cannonball again.


	5. Waiting for my Real Life to Begin

_Title: Waiting For My Real Life To Begin__  
__Author:__kab16__  
__Spoilers: season 6__  
__characters: juliet/sawyer__  
__rating: pg-13__  
__Summary: He's old and he's dying and he finally understands. __  
__Title from Colin Hay Waiting for my real life to begin_

**_NOTE: in case anyone is interested, there is a really great interactive challenge community over at livejournal called lost_land. There are three teams, Dharma Days, Survivors , and Others. Team Others could use some more members! If you have any interest, come check it out! http:/lost-land(DOT)livejournal(DOT)com/ _**

and now for the story...

_prompt: follow_ _  
_

* * *

_"I'm a cop."_

He coughs up blood.

"James." Kate's voice is desperate. Her wrinkled hand is in his. The rest are gone; she'll be the last one. "Stay with me."

He doesn't know where he is. Is this his apartment? The island? Or a little dark room with a vending machine to the side?

_"Maybe you should read the machine its rights."_

Her voice is just as it was the last time he heard it. His is so much younger.

"Juliet."

(He hasn't said her name in years.)

"James," Kate whispers.

For the first time, he understands what she meant._"We can get coffee sometime."_

_I'm coming, Blondie._


	6. Mine

_Title: Mine __  
__Author: kab16__  
__Characters: Ben, Juliet__  
__Rating: pg-13__  
__Summary: One day he'll get what he wants_

_prompt: temptation _

* * *

His eyes narrow when he sees that head of security bastard touch her. And he doesn't understand why she smiles. Why she stays.

They fight once. He grabs her wrist hard and Ben thinks he's gonna hit her. _(Then she'll leave him.)_ But he doesn't. Just stares at her hard_(Ben would never look at her like that)_until she pulls her arm away and leaves. But when Ben see's her next, her lips are attached to his.

Ben imagines what that would feel like.

He keeps imagining, even after she's gone. Soon he's imaging all of her. Pale. Unclothed. _His._

One day he'll get what he wants.


	7. Whatever Happened Happened he says

** Title: Whatever Happened Happened _(he says)  
_Author: kab16  
Characters: sawyer  
Spoilers: season 5  
Rating: pg13  
Summary: He watches his parents die. Helpless _(but not really)._  
**

He's never heard his mama scream like that, never heard his daddy so mad.

At school, he and his friends make fake guns with their hands. Press their thumbs down on their index finger, scream "Bang!"

These shots ain't nothing like that.

He's quivering under the bed; his daddy's shoes heavy on the floorboards. He pulls James out by the shirt collar, points the gun at his head.

"Well aren't you gonna come, Boy? Aren't you gonna stop this!" _(Sometimes it's his Mama's voice.)_

Bang!

He wakes up in a cold sweat. "They're dead," he whispers. "They're dead."

He lets the day pass. Her voice:

"_You did this."_


	8. Not Until the Fire Goes Out

_Title: Not Until the Fire Goes Out_  
_Author: kab16_  
_Summary: Remnants of a fire. A blackened wonders if the rain will wash him away._  
_Characters: smoke monster_  
_Rating: pg_  
_Spoilers: the incident, across the sea_

_ptompt: rain_

* * *

He moves through air.

Slithers, Floats, Flies. Doesn't know the term for his new form of transportation. Can it get him across the ocean, to the mysteries on the other side?

_They come, fight. They destroy. They corrupt._

He feels what his body has become.

Smoke.

Remnants of a fire. A blackened soul.

He wonders if the rain will wash him away.

_Sooner or later, I'm going to find a loophole._

He searches for cover, enters the dead body without realizing what it is. See's through somebody else's eyes, hears with someone else's ears. He sends fresh thoughts surging through a dead brain.

_it always ends the same._


End file.
